Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Two Stories, Two Paint Jobs

Above the Upper Levels Highway, in the City of North Vancouver, at the juncture with East 26th Street was the "little house" at 2556 Chesterfield Avenue. Because East 26th Street did not go through Chesterfield Avenue on its way to Lonsdale Avenue the living room of the "little house" looked out into East 26th Street. The origins of this "little house" has two stories: one from North Vancouver Archives research and one from the year 2000 owners.

The story according to the Building Permit book at the North Vancouver Archives is that the house at 2556 Chesterfield Avenue was built in 1920 for $300 by C. E. Martin. In 1931 C. E. Martin also applied for a $300 house addition. By 1925 John M. Ashton was living in the house. John Ashton worked as a stationery engineer. He was also living there in 1931 at which time he was employed as a laborer at Vancouver Creosoting. In 1940 Mrs. A. M. Hill, a widow, was the resident. And in 1950 and 1960 William H. and Ethel M. Dryer were the owners. William Dryer was retired. In 1960 Ethel Dryer, a widow, was the owner. At that time Ernest Dryer, a construction worker, was also listed as living at 2556 Chesterfield Avenue. By 1971 the resident was Miss Karen Romas. And from *1976 to 1983 the residents were David and Jean Dyck. Jean possibly worked as a teller at National Trust (The address of this National Trust employee was not listed in the City Directory.) The City Directory listings for 1991 and 1995/96 record only Vacant and then Under Construction. The construction was possibly the rooms added onto the back of this very "little house".

During the inclusion of the 2556 Chesterfield Avenue house in the Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home Kevin Grant and Kimberley Bradbury were the owners and they told the story written below.

When the year 2000 photo was taken it was mentioned that the house was soon to be repainted. It was also requested that another photo be taken when that was completed. The photo at the end of this blog post is of the new paint job and was taken in November of the year 2000.  The 2006/2007 North Vancouver Phone Book lists Kevin Grant as still living at 2556 Chesterfield Avenue.

The photos of 2556 Chesterfield Avenue were taken by Suzanne Wilson as part of her Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home. 2000 photos of homes in the City of North Vancouver were photographed. Approximately 800 of these were accompanied by some history of the house or a photo. This was true in the case of 2556 Chesterfield Avenue.


In the month of June 2007 Suzanne Wilson celebrated the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday by distributing to their home owners copies of 1000 photos taken for the Y2K Project. At this time it was discovered that the home photographed at 2556 Chesterfield Avenue had been demolished and a new house had been built. Demolition and Construction Project records show that the house was demolished in 2005.


Demolition: Took place in the year 2005. A black and white negative of the house at this time is on file at the North Vancouver Archives.
Photos: Taken in the year 2000 by SW.
Reference: The Year 2000 project was donated by Suzanne and Alan Wilson to the North Vancouver Archives and is available for viewing.
* Reference: From 2011 e mail from Jean Dyck.